Op-Ed: Priscila Magossi on What's in a Price?

"If it is necessary to do things for the good, in practice we should always ask "for the good of whom?" ― Lacan, The Ethics of Psychoanalysis Money is the universal equivalent of value, the quantity you give in exchange for something you need is related to a few objective factors, and some not so obvious ones. Due to the competitive nature of the business world, expertise is usually kept obscure. Nevertheless, things that happen in the backstage matter, as well as what happens in the offices because the decisions made by a few affect everyone’s lives. In this article, the New Camming Perspective (NCP) addresses a few of these not so obvious practices in the scene, like, (1) how a price is set, and (2) why it pays off to offer something unique while (3) avoiding unnecessary free exposition.   Why are some models so successful? 1. Effective Demand  Have you asked yourself why gold is so expensive? It is not due to some intrinsic beauty of the color or the shine. Neither because it conducts electricity very well. Although these factors play a role in determining the demand for this mineral, there are a few reasons to account for its premium price. The first is related to how much work is necessary to extract the ore, transport, forge, and store it. Such as Adam Smith (2000) mentioned in “The Wealth of Nations”, the entrepreneurs and investors that paid for all the production expenses can enjoy their profit after the gold has been sold. The price of any given product is a mathematical median of how much the market is willing to pay for it. This is called effective demand.  Applying this to the camming business, the wise camming model has a lot more earnings to make if she knows how to market herself, a symbol representing status that the buyer of the service wants. That’s why it is important to understand this activity as a profession and not as a hobby, which implies the need to be as professional as possible and comprehend the way the market works, not only staying online modeling.  2. The uniqueness of something rare In order to grasp more complex concepts, an efficient strategy is to associate them with more routine-like ideas. Therefore, what is abstract becomes concrete to the mind and is not easily forgotten. For instance, a restaurant that you love because it has something unique, like a dish or the shops that you always go back to because you feel special and you do not mind how much you are paying there. So another factor to determine price is the perception of the customer who feels like s/he is unique. If we apply the above logic to the camming market, we can say that the relation of the models with their members can portray a sense of uniqueness and exclusivity, which in turn, carries a premium price. This is related to the “Building Connections” approach of the NCP training program, one that considers social relationships on cam can be a profitable niche to be explored by premium platforms. 3. Avoiding free unnecessary exposition Cam sites views are an important metric to attract profitable advertisement to the site. However, for the models being in evidence is many times considered status, despite no payment or acknowledgement, leading to overposting of their own pictures. Once the image is posted, controlling it becomes nearly impossible. How do you know someone did not save a copy? Even Google will cache it for six months after it has been deleted from the servers. That is why it pays off to think twice before publishing or allowing your own content to be spread around. These points will not ever be written in a marketing campaign because a company’s interest is the immediate profit that can be made and not the outcome of an individual’s life. Let’s point out that it is not a company’s role to be in charge of anyone’s future, that’s why it matters that someone cares for their image, self-esteem, and future. This could be an agent, a therapist, a consultant etc. and especially themselves. Thinking about what are good strategies for the long-term goals and their consequences. In my consultancy sessions with the models, I have heard of them having to face the uncertainties of the future every time.   Final Considerations The price is a consequence of how much need and desire there is for the product and how much supply is available. Companies know how to make money no matter if the supply is high or low, because selling in bulk will still generate profit.  Regarding the camming business, the more exclusive the service a model can offer, which includes not flooding the scene with unnecessary exposition and offering a genuine human experience.  Being in evidence is important nowadays because of the relevance of social media, but it should be quality over quantity. When in doubt, it pays off to ask ourselves:  (1) if we are/will be proud of how my image is being publicized; (2) Considering the first item, we might change our minds in the future, will it be possible to have our content removed?  Our life story can be a reason to be proud of, it has no relation to having our image exposed for as long as the internet exists.  If possible, the wise thing to do is to work for/with people and companies that are socially and ethically responsible, and one way to recognize one is to pay attention to how they treat their sources/suppliers/associates. A company worth working for is one that always cites the source, publicly compliments their human assets, and is not afraid to post or publish critical topics because they desire a more humane reality for all parts involved.  Bibliography  BAUMAN, Zygmunt. Does ethics have a chance in a world of consumers? Harvard University Press, 2009. SMITH, Adam. The Wealth of Nations: An inquiry into the nature and causes of the Wealth of Nations. Harriman House Limited, 2010. LACAN, Jacques. The ethics of psychoanalysis 1959-1960: The seminar of Jacques Lacan. Routledge, 2013.